PHARMACY Bill
Latest action · Dec 7, 2009 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedDec 3, 2009
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Patient Health and Real Medication Access Cost Savings Act of 2009 or the PHARMACY Bill - Declares that a consumer shall have the right to choose to purchase prescription drugs from any domestic pharmacy that meets all applicable federal and state license and permit requirements.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue regulations that: (1) prohibit a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) from providing incentives to, encouraging, or requiring pharmacy benefit plan enrollees to use certain pharmacies or from excluding an eligible pharmacy from a plan's pharmacy network; (2) require a PBM to ensure that pharmacy benefit plan enrollees pay a specified copayment for brand name drugs; (3) require a PBM to reimburse a pharmacy in the network of a pharmacy benefit plan that is federally funded, at specified rates, for brand-name drugs, generic drugs, and additional professional services; (4) require a PBM to be reimbursed by a pharmacy benefit plan sponsor for adjudicating and processing claims; (5) limit the amount that a PBM charges a pharmacy benefit plan sponsor for a drug that is dispensed to enrollees to the amount the PBM paid the pharmacy for such drug; (6) require a manufacturer of prescription drugs to pay all rebates directly to the pharmacy benefit plan sponsor and not to a PBM; and (7) require a pharmacy benefit plan sponsor to provide a list of the wholesale acquisition costs of the top 500 most frequently prescribed drugs to physicians in a plan any insurance-related charge of which is underwritten by a federal, state, or local government.
Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to include pharmacist services as "medical and other health services" under Medicare.
Directs the Secretary, by January 1, 2011, to establish a pharmaceutical access program to provide affordable prescription drugs to individuals who receive drug benefits under federal programs (except Medicaid). Requires: (1) a pharmacy that dispenses prescription drugs in the United States to remit to the Secretary 50 cents for each brand name prescription and $1.00 for generic drug prescription dispensed; and (2) the sponsor of a pharmacy benefit plan that is not federally funded to increase the professional dispensing fee paid to pharmacies by the same amounts. Requires the use of funds generated from such fees to provide affordable access to prescription drugs to low-income individuals who have enrolled in the program.
Cosponsors 36
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Dec 3, 2009 to Nov 18, 2010, with 7 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-NC | Brad Miller | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| R-WA | Cathy McMorris Rodgers | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| R-NC | Howard Coble | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| D-NC | Larry Kissell | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| D-NC | Mike McIntyre | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| D-LA | Rodney Alexander | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| R-NC | Walter B. Jones | Original | Dec 3, 2009 |
| D-FL | Allen Boyd | Dec 11, 2009 | |
| D-IA | Bruce L. Braley | Dec 11, 2009 | |
| D-PA | Tim Holden | Dec 11, 2009 | |
| R-MO | Jo Ann Emerson | Dec 15, 2009 | |
| R-AL | Mike Rogers | Dec 15, 2009 | |
| D-NC | Bob Etheridge | Dec 16, 2009 | |
| D-MN | Collin C. Peterson | Dec 16, 2009 | |
| D-IL | Phil Hare | Dec 16, 2009 |
Actions 6
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Dec 7, 2009Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Dec 3, 2009Introduced in House
- Dec 3, 2009Referred to House Energy and Commerce
- Dec 3, 2009Referred to House Ways and Means
- Dec 3, 2009Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Competition and antitrust
- Consumer affairs
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Health
- Health care costs and insurance
- Health care coverage and access
- Health personnel
- Health programs administration and funding
- Medicare
- Prescription drugs
- Retail and wholesale trades
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Dec 3, 2009Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.